Review: ‘Two Shots Fired,’ Martín Rejtman’s Absurdist Tale

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From left, Rafael Federman, Camila Fabbri and Benjamín Coehlo in “Two Shots Fired,” Martín Rejtman’s film about a teenager who impulsively shoots himself and survives.CreditLucio BonelliCinema Tropical

The droll, shape-shifting “Two Shots Fired,” the newest movie from the Argentine filmmaker Martín Rejtman (the subject of a current retrospective at the Film Society of Lincoln Center), accomplishes the strange feat of constantly thwarting expectations without ever varying its tone or moving the needle of excitement.

The scant, digressive story begins when a teenager, Mariano (Rafael Federman), discovers a revolver and nonchalantly shoots himself in the head and stomach. He survives — Mr. Rejtman earns this bit of license with a shrewd use of off-screen space — and seems unfazed. Perhaps Mariano’s motive was the sweltering heat. “It was an impulse,” he says during a psychological exam. “It was very hot.”

Mariano’s mother, Susana (Susana Pampin), becomes paranoid, hiding knives and other potential weapons. The bullet lodged in Mariano’s body causes him to play two notes at once with the recorder he plays in a quartet. (The group specializes in ancient music. In one of the funniest moments, a new recruit asks about payment.)

His brother (Benjamín Coehlo) flirts with a fast-food worker (Camila Fabbri) ambiguously committed to her boyfriend. In an abrupt change of focus that expands the film’s shaggy-dog vision while suggesting that Mr. Rejtman (who wrote the screenplay) may lack interest in his own story, the movie ditches the brothers to follow Susana on a beach vacation from hell.

Even the mystery of a lost dog is a red herring. A French New Wave-style voice-over holds the narrative together, but “Two Shots Fired” is somewhere between deadpan and coy.